Whisperton, a small farming community south of soaring trees of the Whispering Wood. Scott took in the sight of it with relish. Mustard, too. Hungry for more than news of where he could start his mission properly, the traveling duo stopped at a roadside cart to enjoy the local equivalent of a chili dog.

"Yah?' Scott looked at his partially eaten sausage dog then sighed. Beans. These barbaric creatures actually put beans on their chili dog. It was the stuff of nightmares, really. Such a backward aberrant society. How could it come to exist in the first place?

"Good?" asked the fish-man.

"Eyah." He did not want to offend anyone. In all honesty, it was not a bad chili dog. The addition of beans ruined it in his opinion, but each individual part of it was well-crafted. By themselves, even the beans would be wonderful. It was their inclusion that disgruntled him. He was not racist against beans, or anything, but they should know their place. That place was not on top of his chili dog, especially not the first one that he'd had in quite some time.

The duo sat on a bench and ate while they discussed their plans. Rather, the fish-man discussed his plans while Scott blurted out nonsense words.

"I never did get your name, your highness." The fish-man had taken to calling Scott that for effect. It seemed inevitable that he intended to present him to his daughter in the guise of an exotic foreign hero prince.

"Skhyaht!" cried Scott emphatically. Almost! He could almost say his name.

"Is that, so?" The fish-man nodded to himself. "Well, that is certainly a fine name for a prince."

Skhyaht mumbled quietly for a moment while he licked the chili residue from his fingers. Beans or not, no chili dog would escape his iron stomach.

"I should introduce myself," said the fish-man. "I have, shall we say, a few names that I go by due to my ... shall we say, family business. When I am out among the common folk I am known as Etragar the River Merchant.

"Hyah?" asked Scott.

"No, my prince. I do not sell rivers. I sell that which can be harvested or crafted from the rivers of this world." Etragar laughed lightly. Whether he could actually understand Scott or not, did not seem readily apparent. He did seem to be good at intuiting his meaning, however.

Once they were finished with their meal, Etragar led Scott to a nearby inn where they could rest for a while and take a bath. It would not do for the hero prince to meet a young lady while smelling strongly of the road.

Scott, did not give a damn in the slightest about it one way or the other. He had what he needed, access to the wood.

He sat in a large steaming tub of water and sighed. It was quite luxurious for what it was, an oversized wooden barrel. He eyed his bath companion, a small yellow bar of soap that looked like a duck. Briefly, he wondered if that was how the rubber duck thing began in ages past.

The sliding door that led to the bath opened suddenly. Scott's eyes bulged outward slightly as the nearly naked Etragar wobbled his portly way into the room. Only a towel separated Scott from a terrifying memory. "Eh-Eyah?"

"Etragar has come to wash your back my prince. We need to be able to prove that we are well acquainted." The fish-man advanced a step toward Scott, his scale-less underbelly gleaming enticingly in the light.

"Naht!" Scott leaped from the water with a might splash. Quickly he moved to the nearest towel and protected his last shred of dignity from the gaze of his fishy companion.

"Skinship! It is the true path to brotherhood!" cried Etragar before he yanked his towel free and rushed forward.

Scott blurted out a denial and leapt sideways. None of it. He wanted none of it!

Etragar, his eyes aglow with masculine pride while his fish-business dangled merrily from between his thighs. "Come now! Be not afraid my prince. Etragar shall help you relieve the stress of the road."

The fish-man placed his hands to his hips and laughed. However, it was a strange laugh that made Scott stop cold.

"Eyah?" asked Scott in confusion.

Etragar barked out another laugh, but it sounded like someone knocking at the door. His strange knocking laughter grew in intensity, until Scott jerked awake in the bath tub.

"My prince? Are you well? Did the bath claim your life?" asked Etragar from the other side of the door.

Scott blinked slowly and looked around. The bath room. He had fallen asleep in the tub. Perhaps it would be best to get regular sleep after all.

Strangely, Etragar did eventually appear before him while wearing naught but a towel. However, it was not for skinship. It was his turn in the bath.

Disturbed by his terrible dream of interspecies skinship, Scott sat on the bed in his private room and sighed. Of all of the memories that alcohol could destroy, he was certain that naked Etragar was a memory he would never lose.

Meanwhile Back in Hellespont...

"So, this is what constitutes a tavern in this strange city among the stars?" asked Vita. She wore a loose fitting garment reminiscent of a lab-coat mixed with a body suit. It almost looked like a tunic, but not quite.

Chaine, her stalwart companion, wore the same thing that he always did. Which was whatever Vita made him wear in her presence. As such, he sported the same tunic as always save for the fact that it was clean now.

"No pets allowed." Saelil looked down at Kitty. "Seems like someone is not wanted here, either."

"I am not a pet!" Kitty sniffed loudly then threw her head back and walked boldly into the bar.

A moment later she cried out, "Unhand me!"

A green man with gill-slits on his neck walked out of the door with Kitty in hand. He looked to the others and ask. "Does this thing belong to one of you?"

"I am not a thing! I am a princess!" Kitty hissed loudly and swatted at his wrist.

The green man quirked one of his hairless brows upward then sighed. "Look..."

"She's our companion, not a pet." Vita placed her hands to her hips then offered the man quite a scathing look.

"Fine. If you say so." The man tossed Kitty rudely over to Vita. "She shits on the floor. You're cleaning it up."

"What?" Incredulous, she hissed at the man once more then cried out. "The nerve!"

"Whatever, princess." The man showed her the back of his hand in a dismissive gesture then returned to the bar.

Kitty's hackles rose even as her entire body hissed. "Revenge!"

Saelil snickered at the cat the marched inside. Even without her beloved around this was turning out to be quite the fun adventure.

The quartet found a mostly clean table and settled in while they took in the sight of the local color. Drunken people from all manner of planets openly caroused.

Neither of them knew the first thing about the drinks in the bar, though they were able to piece of a few things from the various names. Chaine soon held a bottle in hand that he'd considered quite interesting.

"What's that one called again?" asked Vita.

"Absinthe, the Green Fairy." Chaine shook the bottle lightly.

Vita peered curiously at him over the rim of her wine glass. "You really need to stop putting those poor things in bottles."

"What? They like it, though." Chaine stared at his princess for a moment, as though he dared her to say otherwise.

"Fairies like to be kept in bottles?" asked Kitty. She leaned down and lightly lapped up a bit of champagne that she'd had poured into a glass slipper. Such a wondrous place, to be able to provide such service!

"Of course! They're always following me around asking to be put in a bottle," asserted Chaine.

"Certainly. That is the exact truth, and not entirely a fact of your own creation." Vita took a sip of her wine then sloshed it around in her glass.

"If you say so, princess." Chaine shook his bottle lightly at her.

Cheeks slightly flush due to the sense of warmth spreading through her body, Vita arched her eyebrow and tilted her head back. "Mhmm. I do say so."

He recognized that expression. However, he did not feel like playing into her hands at the moment.

"Who knew they kept fairies in bottles in a place like this? I've barely seen any trees." Chaine grinned at the expensive bottle of hooch in his hands. "I wonder if they use bug nets?"

Expectations and reality were sadly fated to never intertwine in this instances. Chained opened the bottle in the expectation that a green fairy would fly out and give him a kiss. All he found was green colored alcohol that was strong enough to make his head spin slightly. "Was this stuff made on Doom Mountain? I haven't even drunk any and I'm already, ready."

Saelil lightly swirled a celery stick inside of her disappointing drink. They called it a Bloody Mary but it had no blood in it at all. It was not a bad little drink, but it was quite tame for her tastes. Briefly, she considered ordering a Zombie cocktail, but somehow she doubted it would have anything to do with actual zombies. Such blatant false advertisement was shameful.

Time wore on. Little by little, the quartet grew increasingly inebriated. Any semblance of decorum went out the window as Chaine looked thoughtfully at a nearby stage. Occasionally, people got up there and sang songs. No one had done so in a while, however.

"No." Vita frowned at him in an approximation of sternness for a moment, then dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Chaine snorted at her then rose from his seat. Though he primarily worked alone, he knew that it was a hero's job to save the party. It was time to be a hero.

"Oh goddess," said Vita before she threw her hand to her mouth and laughed again.

"What's happenin'?" asked Kitty. She was spread out on the table like an old mop, but peered over at Vita with one eye half-open.

"He's gonna do that thing he learned in that hub-city, again..." muttered Vita.

Saelil lightly ran her tongue along the length of her celery stalk then bit off the end. Somehow, the Bloodless Mary had become more intriguing over time. She had done three large glasses of it already.

Chaine wobbled up on stage then adjusted his cap. His eyes out of focus slightly, he thrust one hand out and grabbed an old school microphone. Advanced technology or not, some things were traditional.

"Are you ready, party people?" asked Chaine drunkenly.

No one looked at him, so he took it as quiet acceptance. He cried out into the microphone, "Lemme get a fat beat, ya'll!"

Someone must have been listening, because music began to play in the background. It was an instrumental jam with lots of heavy drumming.

"Yo, yo! My name is Chaine. My life is insane. I rock the mike like the rain when it's pouring..." He hopped forward then cried out, "DOOOOWN!"

"Oh goddess, no..." groaned Vita, her cheeks growing flush for reasons other than alcohol.

"What is it...? This thing that he is doing?" asked Saelil.

"Music. The drunken idiot thinks he's making music..." said Vita.

"Jump 'round, throw my boomerang. Clang. Clang. My sword swang. Hero baaaby..." He spun to his left and thrusted his hips outward with each word he sang. "Sexual. Sexual. Uhn... He-ro, baby!"

Vita groaned aloud once more and covered her eyes. "Tell me when it's over... Please let it be over..."

Kitty stared at him with one-eyed fascination. What exactly did he think he was doing up on that stage? The nerve!

"Fought in the world of darkness, the power I did harness of the... uhn... He-ro, baaaby!" Chaine drunkenly thrust his hips a few times more then spun in place. "Always cry for more. Never get bored. The ladies love my masterful sword. Uhn.. Uhn, He-ro Baaabay!"

Saelil snickered suddenly then covered her nose with her hands. Such an unseemly response.

"Is she my sister, my princess, or my lady...? Uhn... Dunno, but I'll always be her hero, baby! Yeah! Hero, Baaabay!"

Vita burst into tears as she could no longer hold in the laughter. The absurdness of the moment was too much. The worst part of it all would be the likelihood that the fool was probably too drunk to remember any of this later.

"Rockin' that mike. Too hot to handle. My moves light up the dance floor like an underworld candle. Get it! Uhn!" He tossed the microphone to the side then drunkenly wobbled around while he tried to bust a few sweet dance moves.

Vita's forehead smacked down atop the table and she groaned loudly. She just couldn't take him anywhere. She would never take him back to the hub-city between worlds again. They were a terrible influence on his fragile little mind.